What benefits might be paid?
There’s a range of potential benefits that can be paid which is why we’ll ask you to complete an information form and also ask you to provide evidence of your eligibility, such as, a colour image of your driver’s licence or passport to prove your identity.
This will help us to determine if there is a survivor’s pension payable to a spouse, civil partner, eligible cohabiting partner or an eligible child, in addition to any potential death grant.
In this section we’ll cover the death grant we’ll pay on the death of a contributing member, a pensioner member and any other member who has a benefit in the EAPF.
All death grants are payable free of tax if they’re paid within two years of the date we’re notified of the death.
The death grant payable to beneficiaries of:
Contributing members – is a lump sum of three times assumed pensionable pay (which is roughly twelve times the total of the last three months of regular wages that were paid)
Pensioner members – will depend on when the contributory service ended and how long the pension has been in payment. Pensioners who ended their contributory service:
Before 1 April 2008 – are guaranteed that we’ll pay the equivalent of a minimum of five years of pension
After 31 March 2008 – are guaranteed that we’ll pay the equivalent of a minimum of ten years of pension
The death grant we’ll pay is the balance of any guarantee remaining unpaid at the date of death.
Deferred members – will depend on when the contributory service ended:
Before 1 April 2008 – we’ll pay a lump sum equal to three times the deferred pension
After 31 March 2008 – we’ll pay a lump sum equal to five times the deferred pension
Deferred pensioner members – we’ll pay a lump sum equal to five times the deferred pension less any pension that’s already been paid
Pension credit members – we’ll pay a lump sum equal to three times the deferred pension
Deferred refund members – we’ll pay the deferred refund plus interest
Unfortunately, a death grant isn’t payable if the member died after their 75th birthday.
If a death grant is due, we’ll ask you to provide a colour image or copy of the Will. We’ll also ask anyone we’ve requested to complete an information form to tell us who they think the member would have wanted to benefit from the death grant.
We’ll use this information alongside any expression of wish (nomination form) that the member may have made to determine who should receive the death grant that’s due.
Please note that if a person had more than one benefit in the LGPS, we’ll pay the higher of the death grant from contributory membership or the aggregate of the death grant payable from any other LGPS membership.
Any payments we make to the estate will mean you’ll need to send us an image or copy of the ‘grant of probate’ or ‘letters of administration’.
See the section ‘What is Probate?’ for more information.
In addition to any death grant that may be paid, we’ll also pay a survivor’s pension to a spouse, civil partner, eligible cohabiting partner or an eligible child. However, if you’re the widower of an opposite sex marriage or civil partnership and your wife or civil partner left the EAPF before 6 April 1988, we won’t be able to pay you a survivor’s pension, although a pension may be paid if you have an eligible child.
If you’re eligible to receive a survivor’s pension, we’ll tell you the pension you’re due to receive once we’ve received the information form telling us about eligible beneficiaries. If we need extra information, we’ll let you know what else is needed at this time.
You’re an eligible cohabiting partner if, at the time of your partner’s death the following conditions were met:
Your partner was contributing to the EAPF at some point on or after 1 April 2008
You’d been cohabiting with your partner for a continuous period of at least 2 years
You were able to marry, or form a civil partnership with your partner
You were living together as if you were husband and wife or as if you were civil partners
Neither you nor your partner lived with a third person as if they were your husband, wife or civil partner
You were financially dependent on or financially interdependent with your partner
We’ll ask you to provide evidence that you met these conditions, such as a copy of any joint mortgage or rent payments or copy of a council tax bill.
An eligible child is any child who is:
A natural or adopted child of your spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner (‘the member’) who was born before, on, or in the case of a natural child, within 12 months of their death; or
A stepchild or a child accepted as a member of the family (excluding a child sponsored by the member through a registered charity) and who was dependent on the member at the date of death; and
The child is under age 18; or
The child is in full time education or vocational training and hasn’t reached the age of 23; or
The child is unable to engage in gainful employment because of physical or mental impairment and either;
Hasn’t reached the age of 23; or
The impairment is in the opinion of an independent registered medical practitioner that we’ve appointed likely to be permanent and the person was dependent on the member at the date of the member's death because of that physical or mental impairment
We’ll ask you to provide an image of your child’s original birth certificate. If you’re unable to do this, you’ll need to send in the original certificate. We may also approach your child’s school, college or further education institution to ask them to verify your child is in full time education with them.
Applying for the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money and possessions (their ‘estate’) when they die is called ‘applying for probate’. If the person left a will, you’ll get a ‘grant of probate’. If the person did not leave a will, you’ll get ‘letters of administration’.
If there’s a will you can apply for probate using a ‘PA1P form’ if you’re named in the will, or in an update to the will (a ‘codicil’), as an ‘executor’. If you don’t want to apply for probate and there are no other named executors, you should contact your local probate office to find out what to do. You’ll need the original will and any updates to apply for probate.
These must be original documents, not photocopies.
If there isn’t a will, it’s the ‘administrator’ who deals with the estate. You can apply using a PA1PA form to become the estate’s administrator if you were the deceased’s:
Spouse (husband or wife) - even if you were separated
Civil partner
Child
Whether you’re applying for probate or letters of administration you can find the application forms you need and more information about what you need to do by visiting www.gov.uk/applying-forprobate/apply-for-probate
